The issue of terrorism in recent months has raised a lot of questions about why two terrorist attacks happened in the same week, but the media focused on the issues in France and ignored the attack in Nigeria.
17 people were killed in Paris, 11 of the 17 killed were journalists. In Nigeria, as many as 2,000 people were slain by Boko Haram. This raises a lot of questions in the public’s eye as we all begin to wonder if this is another issue of racism , indifference or media bias.
Most people believe the difference between the attacks in Paris and Nigeria stems from the lack of effective government in one country that is, Nigeria. The attack in France has received a lot of media attention, which, of course, has taken precedence over the tragedies in Nigeria’s city of Baga.
The leader of Boko Haram is linked to ISIS and Al Qaeda. Haram is responsible for slaughtering 2,000 Nigerian citizens .
According to the Guardian website, Baga is on the border between Nigeria and Chad and has been the battleground between Nigerian forces and Boko Haram. Most people have described the attacks in Nigeria as one of the deadliest massacres ever in the country as local defense groups could not even count the thousands of dead bodies left lying on the streets.
Why did the media ignore this breaking news story? Even though both tragic events are important, a lot of people can agree that Boko Haram’s vicious massacre in Nigeria could take precedence over the tragedy in France.
Both terrorist attacks in Borno State and Paris took place around the same time period, but the story in France got more media coverage than that of Nigeria.
This goes to show the difference in international response to both massacres even though both attacks had similar beliefs and methods of operating.
The difference between both terrorist attacks is that while there has been an outpouring of solidarity for the French victims and pledges of international solidarity for France’s stand against violent extremism, nothing similar has been done for Nigeria’s fight against the growing power of Boko Haram.
Boko Haram has proven itself to be as much of a threat to international peace and security
as the Paris attacks, which has received so much attention.
